Getting Ready

Yesterday I had my last midwife appointment. Saturday I will be 35 weeks pregnant.

I am starting to get ready for the arrival of this little one. I am so eager to hold him in my arms and have him out of my huge tummy.

Last week I went through baby clothes and washed and arranged his clothes in his drawer. My older two kids- ages 3 and 1 were so into the process of finding the clothes. My 22 month daughter wanted to try everything on. It is cute to see them so into the process.

We also stopped in at the huge market in Riga and stocked up. Things are so much cheaper there if one has the time to go. I loved having my husband along for the shopping because he isn't so stick-to-the-list as me and it makes our shopping more fun :)

Today I have been cooking and freezing meals so that he will have an easy time fixing meals after the baby is born. He will be the cook for the 10 days he has off after the baby arrives. I made Rachael Ray's meatballs and froze those. These are my favorite for spaghetti with meatballs. YUM! I also made cutlets- they are very popular over here. I always make a lot and freeze them. This too is my favorite recipe.

I feel like I am finally getting things ready- how wonderful!

Textured Felt Balls for Babies and Toddlers

 A few weeks ago I shared a tutorial on how to make fun felt balls for kids. If you missed that click here.

 These balls were made for my niece who will celebrate her first birthday the 9th of March. I wanted them to be interesting for little hands so I decorated them in all kinds of fun ways.

My toddlers love the way they turned out and so do I. Now I need to make some more for my baby to be :)

Birth Music/Sounds

 In my preparation for birth I beginning to gather music and sounds to relax me.

Any suggestions?

Rain

Check this OUT

My dear friend opened her shop yesterday on etsy.

Check it out!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/1stJanuary

Birth Jingle

In the book I am reading, "Birthing From Within," (Sorry if you are getting sick of hearing about it) she shared how her first labor was 2 days long and she was terrified of another long labor. She wanted a shorter labor and made up a jingle expressing her wish:

I will only be in labor as long as it takes
To Make, Bake, Cool and Frost a Chocolate Cake. 

She asked a friend to bake a cake (from scratch) during her labor. When her friend finished it and came in and showed it to her she was shocked it was already finished. BUT within 20 minutes her son was born.

She encourages mothers to come up with their own positive thinking rhythmic jingle and repeat it over and over so that it activates  ones right brain.


I am curious if this could really work. Why not try it, hmm?


I have a jingle and perhaps will better it to make it more rhythmic- but for now here is how it goes.


I will only be in labor as long as I need
To Pack, Drive, Fill and Get in the Tub.

(Sorry if you don't understand it- I have my own planning and reasoning behind it). 



Have you ever used something like this? What do you think?

Out of Whack.

Lately I find my paintings not turning out as well as usual or all together flopping. Of course these are not the ones I have lately listed, but rather the pile that seem to be accumulating here in my work room. 

It makes me think that perhaps until this pregnancy is over and I am back to "normal" I need to step back from painting. I can't stand so much wasted time and paint. 

I have also noticed this in my cooking skills. 

I am feeling rather not myself lately and I don't like it. But I guess my body is working overtime to finish making this baby. 

Has this ever happened to you? 

Maturity

Today as I was reading  Romans 12 in The Message translation this passage leaped out at me: 

^1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. 

I was challenged to place my mothering, my painting, my business and pregnancy on the altar before 

God. I was reminded that these things are about Him, not me and my will. 

 But another thing that really POPPED out at me was the last part "God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." All of a sudden I realized that as much as I want my kids to be grown up, well behaved, and nice to each other; controlling themselves and their tempers- God wants the same of me. The goal in this life is to mature to Christ-like maturity. To be so controlled by God that their is no longer any ME. 

Wow, I expect my kids to want to be nice to one another. To know how to do so, and to do so cheerfully. God wants the same of me, of us. He wants me to put aside my wants and desires and serve my family and Him. I sometimes am so shocked how selfish and self-centered kids are. But I am just as bad. Perhaps I have learned to be kind where they are just learning, but there are deeper places in our adult hearts that God wants to bring to maturity. 

What about my desire for pleasure? My desire to paint and just have fun is sometimes so strong. I make choices, choices to read and study God's word or paint and watch a movie and just RELAX. Painting isn't bad, it is something God has given me- but HE must be the priority in my free time. I need more maturity in giving up my wants, just like my children need to learn. I need to take time to be with Him so I can be growing- otherwise how can I show my children maturity?

What about my love of chocolate? My kids would eat tons of sweets IF I let them, but knowing what is good for them I control their sweets intake. God requires maturity of me in this area too. Where is that maturity? 

I am learning. I am a child of God with still so far to go in this walk towards Christ-likeness. 

Lord make me more like you!